7 things you should know about the Mourning Dove

Added: 2026-05-31

[00:00:00]The mourning dove's Latin name is Zenaida macroura. Macroura means long-tailed, but Zenaida actually comes from Zenaide Bonaparte, who was the wife of the French ornithologist Charles Lucien Bonaparte, who was Napoleon Bonaparte's nephew.

[00:00:15]Unfortunately, it is a very popular game bird, and each year around 20 million are killed. It is not currently in population danger [music] because it can raise up to six broods in one year, but you also thought that the passenger pigeon could not possibly go extinct.

[00:00:29]>> Northern breeding mourning doves will migrate all the way down to southern Mexico, whereas the central and southern breeding individuals will only migrate a few hundred miles, and some not at all.

[00:00:39]They use differential migration, where the immatures move first, followed by the adult females. The adult males migrate last and will stay very late into the fall to secure breeding territory for next season, and some will avoid migration altogether.

[00:00:53]>> Mourning doves live in the entirety of North America. They are found in a wide range of open and semi-open habitats, such as farms, grasslands, and lightly wooded areas. They avoid swamps and dense woods.

[00:01:06]>> Male and female mourning doves are overall light gray-brown with a peachier breast. They have large black spots on the tops of their wings and a light blue eye ring.

[00:01:15]Juveniles look similar, but most of the upper feathers are tinged with white.

[00:01:19]Mourning doves can be distinguished from Eurasian collared doves by the lack of color, but you'll most likely see mourning doves or Eurasian collared doves above you on power lines, so the best way to identify is by the tail.

[00:01:31]The mourning dove's tail is very long and tapered, and the Eurasian collared dove has a short, squared tail. Their song is the very familiar coo, which is sometimes mistaken for an owl.

[00:01:47]The sound heard when they take off can sound like a call, but it actually comes from their wings and is most likely a predator alarm for other birds.

[00:02:00]>> Ever moving.

[00:02:02]Ever moving.

[00:02:04]Ever moving.

[00:02:09]>> [laughter] >> Their main diet is seeds [music] and when feeding they will eat enough to fill their crop and then go somewhere to digest. They will sometimes swallow gravel and sand alongside the food to help with digestion.

[00:02:22]They will come to platform feeders and they eat the widest range of seeds out of any North American bird.

[00:02:28]People will sometimes plant [music] sunflower fields for dove hunting, but this can be illegal.

[00:02:34]Mourning doves [music] are one of the few birds alongside other doves, pigeons, flamingos, and some penguins that create a milk-like substance for their young.

[00:02:43]Both males and females do this. They're also one of the few birds that use suction for drinking water, which is much more effective.

[00:02:49]The record for most seeds in their crop was over 17,000 bluegrass seeds and for the people who appreciate the speed of birds, mourning doves are surprisingly fast and often reach speeds up to 55 mph or 88 km an hour.

[00:03:04]The mourning dove.

[00:03:06]Yes, a morning bird, a weeping bird, but a morning bird, a daybreak joy-filled bird, who welcomes in the day and whose call I know so well.

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